VA's Baker Says VA, DOD Digital Record Systems Will Morph into Joint System

The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments’ approaches to modernizing their health record systems may be slightly different, but their goals are aligned in developing a joint electronic health record (EHR) system, according to Roger Baker, assistant secretary for information and technology for the VA.

Baker offered several details about the VA's pending development of a joint medical record system with DOD, while speaking in a conference call with reporters April 28. A transcript of the discussion was released afterward by the VA.

Concerning DOD officials’ recent statements that they may be looking at commercial solutions first for the joint record system, while the VA is modernizing its Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA) system with an open-source approach, Baker said there is no conflict between the two approaches. He described the VA’s open-source development as a means of examining commercial products.

“Use of open source is for VA the ‘how’ of getting a joint system. For DOD, open source is the ‘what’ of the system,” said Baker, who also is the VA's CIO.

“Open source and ‘looking at commercial first’ go well together,” Baker said. “It [looking at commercial first] is, in fact, what VA intends to accomplish, and has specifically said many times, through open source. While we’re not prepared to talk in detail about our plans, VA and DOD have agreed that VA’s use of open source as the model for development of VistA fits within our mutual plans for the Joint Common Electronic Health Record.”